23 October 2008

frost date

we've past the predicted first frost date of october 20 and it still has not been down to freezing yet, here. i'm sad to report that many of the greens in the cold frame are refusing to grow. i know the soil is pretty good, so i guess it just doesn't get enough sun in that spot this time of year. the broccoli and kale is doing great though, so i can't complain really. but i do anyway because arugula is my new favorite green, it is easy to grow, two of my neighbors have large, healthy plants, and mine just seem stunted at the seedling stage. luckily, said neighbors are generous.

i've been happy with the carrot crop. a good percentage of them are still in the ground. they are stubby but delicious. i had reported earlier that cosmo didn't like them, but that has changed. if i peel them, and slice them into "carrot coins" he gobbles them up. they are perfect on a fresh salad too.


our crazy, volunteer tomato plants, growing from the compost bin, are still producing lovely tomatoes long after our other ones have withered. i even saw some blossoms on one of them yesterday!



the peas i planted are doing well, growing fast, but i doubt we'll get any peas off of them. the plants are supposed to be frost resistant, but i bet the blossoms are not. we'll see how far they get before it turns really cold.

finally, i planted a small herb garden to bring indoors for the winter. i've become accustomed to those fresh herbs, and don't want to do without them in the cold months.



anybody else out there doing some fall/winter gardening?

2 comments:

Stacy said...

I still have tomatoes and bell peppers! Out of my fall plantings I think only my radishes are going to amount to anything - everything else looks too small too late in the year. Lessons learned though!

Anonymous said...

I think something got most of our carrots as seedlings...have to check with dh, the head gardener. We have daikon growing nicely, and have spinach, kale, broccoli, radichio, Asian greens (mainly gai lan, I think), and celery to harvest right now. The other stuff pretty much bit the dust with the heavier frost we've had.

I want to have an herb garden inside! Dh doesn't seem to want to go for the idea for some reason. We've dried our own dill and sage, but I do love fresh basil and cilantro. Do you have any special tips for making it work? Indoor herbs tend to become a bit spindly.